Dartford; January 6, 1918

No. 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know how I am getting along.

I am leaving here to-morrow & going to the Convalescent Camp at Hurdcott. I am not quite fit for Furlough yet as my wound is not healed up & I do not want to go on leave till that is quite right. I have got rid of my bandages now. I just have the dressing stuck on with big strips of sticking plaster.

I went to London with a theatre party on New Year's Day. We went and saw "Any Old Thing" at the Pavilion Theatre, in Piccadilly.

Piccadilly Circus

After the Matinee we were taken to the Y.M.C.A. at "Ciros" & given a very nice tea. "Ciros" was one of the most fashionable clubs in the West End before the war, where you paid a "fiver" for what was worth a "sprat". But there was so much gambling & "high" life there that the authorities seized it and handed it over to the Y.M.C.A. people & a very nice little place it is.

After tea I went out & strolled up and down the "Strand" till I was tired & then caught a train & came home, after spending a most enjoyable day. All this was free we only had to pay our train fare 1/6.

Last-night I went to a "Twelfth Night Party" at Slade Green. This was given by the Munition girls. They give two dances a week to our chaps from this hospital. About 70 of us went down & had a splendid time. I had a couple of quiet dances.

A sing-song in the YMCA- a female pianist plays for Australian soldiers. London, 1918.

The girls round these parts are very fond of our chaps & if anyone feels inclined for flirtations or "dinkum" courting, there is plenty of opportunity. Unless you want a girl looking after you, you have to be very careful who you give "glad eyes" to. Of course I am too old & steady for anything like that now. I suppose things will be a bit quieter at Hurdcott.

To-day is a special day of prayer for Victory. I have just been to Mass. I mentioned in my last letter that I had received your cable, but that letter might go astray. There has been no Australian mail in for a good while now. Well, I will close now hoping you are all quite well.

I remain

Your Loving Son & Brother

Tom

Lyndhurst; March 18, 1917

My Dear People,

Just a card to let you know I am quite well.

This is rather a nice place, down here. The New Forest is all around here & a stone marking the place where one Walter Tyrell potted William Rufus is only about 4 miles away, but I have been too busy writing lectures & drawings to go & see it.


View Larger Map

This place is about 10 miles from Southampton, & I believe that a lot of American tourists come here in the summer time. There are about 100 in the school here, a good many of them being Officers. It is an Imperial School & one or two of the instructing Officers wear "petticoats" instead of trousers.

I went to a dance in the town Friday night just out-of curiosity. It was much the same as a Quadrille night at Mt. Bryan, their dances are much the same style as ours. I had two or three dances, but same old tale, can't stand it. They have two dances a week, the gents are soldiers & there are plenty of girls.

The camp is only about a mile from the town. The town is a fairly new one, with a lot of houses with "apartments to let" where I suppose the tourists live when they used to come here. Today has been the nicest day I have seen in England so I guess the spring is coming.

Hoping you are all well,

I remain

Your Loving Son & Brother

Tom.